Those Fiery Blue Eyes
by Fiyero's-GF
Summary: Had to delete the original b/c Fanfiction was a being a pain in the neck. Summary Inside. ZukoxOC
1. First Light, Last Hope

**First fanfic. I mean, like, ever! I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

It was a very quiet night for Kerryn. She had finished putting the kids to sleep. It wasn't long before Thalia and Derek went willingly to theirs. So, with nothing left to do, she went to go sleep in the chair in the hall. Again. There was a bunk bed that belonged to the Thomas siblings in one room and two beds in another for her brother and cousin. Kerryn kept the crib in the hall where she could keep an eye on Neo during the night. There was another bed but she shuddered each time she thought about it. Humming a soft tune, she went to go comfort Neo, who was winding himself up for a big cry.

She rounded the corner and saw a figure draped in black. Kerryn stealthily took out her water pouch and quietly placed it on the floor without the cap. She bent the water to her whim and slowly but surely, the water wrapped itself about the intruder's ankles. She froze it immediately and bolted to the crib to see if the figure had harmed Neo. At the sight of his "mother", he calmed down and swiftly fell asleep. She spun on her foot to face the person who had frightened _her_ Neo.

She whipped the hood off of his head. There stood a boy who looked a little older than her, with black messy hair that fell around his shoulders. Bright golden eyes stared back at her with an air of surprise. As she took him in, he studied her. She was a good head shorter than him with blue eyes that had a rim of hazel in them. Her hair was a big mess of curls. He felt tempted to reach out and stroke them. He noticed that her hair went only a little past her shoulders, unlike girls he knew that kept it past their elbows. She had bangs that swept to the side and that only the bangs themselves were dyed, his favourite colour incidentally, bright purple.

"Who in the HELL are you?" Kerryn whispered furiously.

"My name is Zuko."

**Not the best beginning chapter but I'm working on it. Please review. I can deal with flames if you have real reasons.**


	2. Meeting the Family

**Thank you for those who read this. I would really appreciate it if people reviewed. Thank you.**

"What's yours?"

"You aren't in the position to be asking about anything. I, however, am. Why are you here?" Kerryn asked uneasy. 'Well,' she thought, 'who wouldn't be if some teenager just broke into their house and stood there watching a baby sleep?' She walked over to the crib and picked Neo up. She moved her weight from foot to foot, soothing the whimpering child.

"My uncle has been captured by some thugs and-,"

"That's your problem not mine," Kerryn interrupted but he just continued once she was done.

"I would take them down myself but there are too many for me to handle by myself. So I asked around the marketplace for a master bender or fighter. And a woman by the name of Sofia said you knew somebody," Zuko finished.

"That doesn't explain why you're in this house," Kerryn whispered harshly.

"I figured you lived here with your sifu," he looked at her and saw the weird look she was giving him, "when Sofia pointed you out, I saw you bend some water into your pouch," Kerryn just nodded. It was an honest mistake, but he didn't know that yet.

"I was walking to the lodge I was staying in when some thieves came around the corner and I, sorta, well, I kinda panicked. I came through the back door," he finished quietly rubbing the back of his head and neck.

He looked rather bad about it. Kerryn kept her face impassive. She placed Neo, now sound asleep, back in his crib. She turned to him. She sort of felt bad. Her captive looked like he almost wet himself. Kerryn raised her hands causing Zuko to flinch and wonder about all of the torture methods a student waterbender knew. Not too much, he hoped. To his surprise, Kerryn just melted the water that had been freezing him to the spot. Returning the water swiftly to her pouch, Kerryn stood tall with her decision.

"Return to your lodge," Zuko's face was crestfallen with disappointment. "Tomorrow you can come here and we can devise a plan to get your Uncle back. However, you have to help me run this house. Deal?" He nodded his head furiously. Zuko thought how difficult good it be to take care of some laundry, some cleaning, and a baby.

.

.

.

Kerryn was woken to little footfalls in the hallway. She lifted her eyelid a centimeter to see to kids creeping around her chair. She closed her eyes again, "What do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"Come on Kerryn!" the little boy whined.

"We got up early to play ninja and you just ruined it!" complained the older girl.

"You can play ninja after you eat breakfast," they cheered at the news.

"Waffles? French toast? Oooh! Can it be pancakes?" they asked pulling on Kerryn's pants.

"Sure. Go get the ingredients out while I go check on the others. Then we can make it together," she said in a quieter tone. The two kids bolted into the kitchen. Kerryn just chuckled and shook her head. She walked down the hallway to see Lissy Thomas sitting straight up reading some book from the study.

"G'mornin!" she called to her friend. Thalia was the same age as Kerryn but the exact opposite. The two friends had finished school early due to the fact they were schooled privately. So with Thalia and Kerryn being the only students asking questions, the curriculum flew by quickly. Thalia raised her head over her reading glasses, muttering a dark 'hi' and looked back at her book. Normally, Thalia was a morning person but if there was book that 'intrigued' her, people didn't matter. Kerryn told her about Zuko but she didn't think Thalia heard her. She looked too engrossed in the novel.

Kerryn walked into the next room where her brother was still asleep. Lying back up, she could still hear his snores. Derek was adorable, when he's asleep mind you. It wasn't so bad when he was up. He usually played outside with his cousins as to not get put to work inside.

Deciding that Bria and Gary had enough time to not cause a whole lot of damage, Kerryn strode into the kitchen where Bria and Gary sat like puppies on the floor. As they fixed breakfast, Bria tackled Derek and Gary bulldozed his big sister to the ground. Lissy served the pancakes while Kerryn went to her room downstairs to get changed. As she pulled her pale blue tank top over her head, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Kerryn froze. That was Gary. She ran out of her room and up the stairs where the door was. 'I won't let another one get caught ever again!' she thought. Kerryn reached the landing just as Gary did. Apparently Thalia was thinking the same as her, for she was already scolding her ten-year-old brother. With a sigh of relief, the Thomas siblings were already sitting at the table eating. Kerryn turned her attention back to the door. Upon opening it, she saw Zuko there with two small bags thrown over a shoulder.


End file.
